The Gates of Death (book)
:For other uses of '''The Gates of Death', see'' The Gates of Death The Gates of Death is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Charlie Higson, illustrated by Vlado Krizan and originally published in 2018 by Scholastic Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 12th in the Scholastic series (ISBN 1-40718-630-2). Creation Background - Back Cover}} Rules The book in general follows the original rules set down in ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). There is a variety of weapons the player can obtain during the adventure, each with different effects on Attack Strength or damage caused. - pg.335-338 Equipment List - pg.335 *Travelling clothes *Backpack Cover and Illustrations Covers The cover was designed and illustrated by Robert M. Ball. Illustrations The interior illustrations, including the black and white map accompanying paragraph 173, were by Vlado Krizan. There were 20 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 11, 32, 53, 74, 95, 116, 137, 158, 194, 215, 236, 257, 293, 314, 335, 356, 377, 398, 420, and 436. The full-page illustrations in the book were accompanied with a caption giving a short extract from the text. The map was by Leo Hartas. Intertextual References Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of The Gates of Death *Alesstis - High Priestess of Throff *Arakor Nicodemus - Wizard *Blossom *Brother Tobyn *Castrabel - Acolyte *Denka Mansell *Eli *Fossick - Dwarf Lumberjack *Fazilus Astra - Wizard, Beggar *Hikaz Mandeera - Adventurer *King Salamon LVII - Ruler of Salamonis *Lady Webspinn - Scholar *Liara - Handmaid *Lord Varek Azzur - Ruler of Port Blacksand *Ludo Hyperion the Wooden Scribe - Dryad *Monstroso the Blood Feaster *Oli *Piscis Austrinus the Fish with a Thousand Voices *Sandford Swann - Cartographer *Sinna the Sly *Uli *Ulrakaah - Priestess, Demon *Vigo Sabulkar - Priest of Sindla Locations *Crucible Islands *The Invisible City *Kaynlesh-Ma *Plain of Bronze *Port Blacksand *Salamonis *Silverton *Trolltooth Pass Encounters *Bum-Faced Monster *Clawbeast *Demon - Blossom/Brother Tobyn/Denka/Gravedigger/Horde/Maid/Merchant/Mother/Pig/Soldier/Spirit *Drunken Ogre *Fossick *Hay Thiever *Human - Bowman/Highwayman/Thief *Obsidian Giant *Sniffer Dog *Timber Wolf - Timber Wolf/Timber Wolf Pack Leader *Troll *Ulrakaah Further Notes *A full-page black and white version of the cover art is reproduced on the first page. Other Scholastic titles in the Scholastic Circle cover format before this simply reproduced the entire cover with text, and after this title reproduced the art in the circle only. *The book has a blue Scholastic logo on the spine (instead of the usual black) as well as a blue Fighting Fantasy logo (instead of the traditional yellow one) and the author's name in blue text (again instead of the usual black). The spine is also silver as opposed to gold of all the other Scholastic releases. Errors *At (73) it is possible to leave the shop alive and to get to Titan Square to find some hidden treasure, while if you simply try to leave, you might get killed by the Demons waiting outside. *At (105) you are asked if you are wearing a pair of magic boots, but you cannot possess one at this stage of the adventure, due to the fact you lost almost all your equipment before. This renders the book unbeatable without cheating. *At (118) after a Demon swallows us and spits us out through the roof, we find ourselves back in the Garden, somehow without a scratch. *(129) says that there are double-headed axes on the table, however the picture on (420) is showing the beast to be holding one-headed axes. *At (151) there is a six-pointed star symbol on Logaan's chest, on (132) it turns into a six-headed arrow. *At (171) you get a silver ring from Lady Webspinn as a marker item that you decided to go with her. However at this point you can still abandon her, keep the ring and continue on the main road, while she goes onwards into a small courtyard. If you later enter a different courtyard further down the road, due to the ring, she will suddenly be there, waiting for you. *(193) is missing the option that we have already taken the Seed of Knowledge. *At (200) you greet Lady Webspinn as an old acquaintance, even though there exists a route where you can avoid her completely. *After buying the adventurer's box from Sandford Swann, it is possible to turn it into a Blue Frog at (425). However, there is a check for the frog sooner, at (344). This suggests that the writer's intent was that you should be able to ask about the adventurer and then the adventurer's box after you've bought and destroyed the box (otherwise you would never be able to reach (304)). As an extension to this, you should also be able to ask about the box multiple times after you've bought it and opened it with the Icefinger Key the first time. Which means you should be able to buy the box multiple times as well. *It is possible to return to (298) and get the hidden gold several times. (At least the skill deduction limits the number of times it is safe to return here.) *At (384) if you choose to ask about the temple, you are told to go to (234). The correct section is (440). *(402) suggests that the Seed of Mastery might increase the Initial skill as well (or at least allow the skill points it to go above the Initial value), but there is no confirmation of this at (389). *At (422) you may be in a situation where you can not choose one of the three given options. The possibility to go back to (406) needs to be added. *There is a loop that is causing multiple issues. The loop is the following: You get to the herder's track (either by fleeing from the Highwaymen, or not joining Lady Webspinn in Silverton). You enter the house. You refuse to help Fossick's daughter. You either flee from the house or fight (and subsequently kill) him. You steal his horse from the barn while it's still night (you can have a second chance of killing him). You decide to steer the horse to a direction of your own choosing. After all this you'll be back in Silverton. **If, at this point you decide not to go with Lady Webspinn, you get back to the herder's track, which will take you to Fossick's hut again, restarting the whole encounter. Even if you have already killed him. **You can witness Lady Webspinn's black coach preparing to leave Silverton in the morning over and over again, if you keep coming back with Fossick's horse. **Should you decide to join Lady Webspinn in the coach, she'll greet you as if she knew you, even though you can get here without meeting her previously. *(351) contains a short encounter with Logaan, where the Trickster God puts our pants on fire for lying about having 200 Gold Pieces. However there are two ways to get this much money without anything that can be considered cheating. On one hand the loop makes it possible to obtain 5GP each time (you can get it from the Hay Thiever). With a high enough skill value, Fossick can easily be killed 40 times. On the other hand, buying the adventurer's box costs 10GPs, but it contains 20GPs, making it a nice money-maker. *The story suggests you should be using the Weakwater (obtainable at (409)) to easily get killed by the Obsidian Giants. However if you do that, you have a very good chance to die in the next two battles. At (366), the skill should probably be reset to its Initial value as well. *If the Demon Horde beats us and we get to (60), we pass back to the realm of the living, with unknown stamina points. *You can complete the book without giving a smoke-oil to the High Priestess. You don't even have to have any smoke-oils with you when you enter Throff's Temple. Dedication none See Also Reviews External Links References Category:Fighting Fantasy Scholastic Series Category:2018 books Category:The Gates of Death Entries